See A Little
by Casey Jewels
Summary: I remember how life used to be, before I could see. I never knew what was going on around me. I hate to admit it, but I was just the tiniest bit scared back then. All right, I was very scared. My world had been nothing but a big black void.
1. First Sight

I just realized that I forgot to add a disclaimer, so here it is: I do not own Avatar and never will.

_First Sight_

I remember how life used to be, before I could see. I never knew what was going on around me. I hate to admit it, but I was just the tiniest bit scared back then. All right, I was very scared… all of the time. There, I said it. My world had been nothing but a big black void. The one plus to being blind was that my hearing improved. I can identify people by the sound of their voices after only hearing their voice once. As I grew older I began to sense where things were. At that time I thought it was because I was familiar with where everything was, but that was not the case.

It was a few days after my fourth birthday that I discovered my earthbending and my 'sight.' On that day my parents had some guest over for dinner, so I was stuck in my room. Two guards were stationed outside my door. My parents said that they were there to protect me, but I knew that that was not the real reason. They were here to keep me in. I was a prisoner in my own home. Nobody knew about me except those that lived here, which wasn't many. I had been stuck in my room for hours and it was driving me insane. I hated being cooped up inside. I hated it! I hated it!! I HATED IT!!! I got so tired of being in my room that I climbed out of my window. I sighed in pleasure as my feet hit the ground. My toes curled around the blades of grass. I stepped away from the wall and headed towards the flower garden.

When I was about halfway to the garden I heard a noise in the air, like the beating of a bird's wings. I knew it was a vulture monkey, for I had heard them flying over quite a bit lately. I felt the vulture monkey grab my arms with his claws. I managed to bite back my scream as he lifted me into the air, not wanting the guards to know that I had slipped away. I could no longer feel the solid earth under my feet, only the claws digging into my skin. I felt the ground grow farther and farther away from me. Terrified, I panicked and kicked my foot up. I had never been so far away from the ground. I felt a piece of earth move upwards, closer to me. The bird squawked loudly as the boulder hit him. I felt his claws release me and I felt myself falling through the air. I pulled my hands up and felt the earth rush up to catch me. The earth slowly brought me down to the ground as I lowered my hands. I heard the bird flying away rapidly. A grin of satisfaction crossed my face. I, Toph Bei Fong, the blind helpless girl, had fought a vulture monkey and won. At that point in time I knew that I was meant to do more with my life than rot here.

After several minutes had passed I decided it was time to head back, knowing the guards could discover my absence at any time. I was about to head back when I realized the ground did not feel as it usually did. The ground was scarred from my earthbending. I fixed the land as best as I could. It taxed my strength, moving all of the big chunks of earth around. But, you do got to admit that was a pretty amazing feat for a four-year-old that was bending for the first time. I know that not even Katara, Miss Perfect, could have done that.

I had put all of the big pieces back and was working on the smaller rocks when I heard, or rather sensed, that someone was walking towards me. I sighed; knowing it was Master Yu, an earthbending teacher that lived here. I dropped my earthbending stance and turned to face him.

"What are you doing out here, Toph?" Yu had asked. "And were you just doing what I think you were doing?"

"I… I… heard something and got scared," I had replied. I hated acting like I was so helpless all of the time. It bothered me. But at the time I thought that I had no choice.

"You are all sweaty, Toph. Moving those tiny pebbles is too hard for you to be attempting."

It was then that I knew he had not seen all of my earthbending. He had just seen the very end of it, when I was moving the rocks that weighed less than a pound. "I was moving pebbles? I though I was moving big boulders."

"You need to be trained before you can move anything that big, and even then I'm not sure that you would be able to." He grabbed my hand with his large one. It was pretty smooth for an earthbender's hand. "Come. The guests have left. We need to talk to your father."

And after my parents found out about me being an earthbender they hired even more guards to protect me. I think that they thought I would hurt myself with a rock while trying to earthbend. If only they had known that my earthbending had given me sight. I wonder what their reaction to that would have been. It probably would have been bad, so I guess it's for the best that I don't know. But I do know that I am the greatest earthbender in the world, for I am the Blind Bandit.

Well? What do you think? I was looking at writing prompts and I found one that said start with 'I remember' and go from there, so that's what I did.

R&R!

I might add more and I might not. It's your call.


	2. Running Free

Disclamer: I don't own Avatar or yada yada, but Rosalie, Danil, The Shiek, and Tiger Bear are all mine.

Running Free

I sighed in contentment and softly patted Appa. I feel so free, now that I'm free of the prison my parents call home. I feel as if I can do anything, just like the first time I ran away…

Seven. I was seven at the time. I had just been grounded to my room because my parents found out that I had made a friend (since I'm supposed to act invisible). How unfair is that? I had only been friends with the other girl for nine days. My friend had given me clothing for my birthday, clothing that she herself had made. My parents had discovered us in my room the day of my birthday. I don't think I'll ever forget that day, not if I lived to be a million years.

* * *

"How do I look?" I asked as I struck a fighting pose. 

"Awesome!" Rosalie exclaimed. She giggled. "But the outfit is a bit big."

I shook my head. "No matter. I'm sure I'll grow into it. It feels perfect for fighting in."

"I'm sorry that it's too big. That was my first attempt at sewing."

"Stop apologizing. It's the best gift I've ever received." I hugged Rosalie. "Too bad I can't wear it all the time." I changed back into my uncomfortable everyday dress. I placed her gift in my closet. "Are you ready for me to teach you that earthbending move?"

"On your birthday?" Her surprise showed in her voice.

I placed my hands on my hips and glared at my friend. "Earthbending would just make my birthday even better."

"If that's what you really want…"

"Of cour…" My eyes widened. "Rosalie, you have to get out of here, my parents are coming."

Needless to say, Rosalie didn't make it out in time. Now I was stuck in my room for a week, but I didn't plan to stay here for the entire time.

I quickly changed into the clothes Rosalie had given me and pushed the window open. The guards outside my door coughed and I froze, but after a few seconds it was apparent he hadn't heard me. I carefully climbed out of the window.

Many would say that running away is foolish and only has bad results, but I disagree. I don't think I would have become a master earthbender or been qualified to teach the Avatar if I had not run away. Rosalie had once told me about an earthbending tournament and that was where I was headed now. I had no idea where the tournament was at, but I knew how to find it. First, though, I had to escape from my "home" without being seen. That was easier said then done.

I inched along the wall, mentally calculating how many more guards had been added and where they had been positioned. My father had added about twenty more guards outside and at least two were stationed at every entrance and exit. I paused at the corner and cracked my knuckles. This was going to be fun.

I "saw" a guard about to turn the corner. I raised up a large piece of earth and hit him in the head as he turned the corner. He fell to the ground, unconscious. I rolled my eyes. He was way too easy to be any fun. I needed a challenge, a _real_ challenge.

I would take too much of your time telling you about how I escaped because it was really easy and really boring. Basically, I went through a tunnel to the other side of the wall. Anyways, once I got out of my "home" I started walking. I had no idea where the tournament was, I just knew I would feel the vibrations when I got close. I knew it couldn't be too far away since Rosalie went there quite often.

"Hey there," a voice called out. My eyes narrowed. The voice belonged to a boy not much older than me. He was a little on the chubby side and was standing six feet to my right. "What's your name? I'm Danil." He took a couple steps toward me.

"Get lost, loser," I said. "I'm not interested in making friends."

"You're going to regret that." His anger was very clear in his voice.

He grabbed my arm. That was the last straw. I kicked my leg to the side. Danil was shot several feet into the air as the earth under him shifted. "Don't bug me." I smirked as I "saw" him scramble to his feet and run away. "And don't come back!" I shouted after him. I turned and sauntered down the path, ignoring the stares everyone was giving me. Hey, I may be blind, but I'm certainly not stupid. Any idiot can tell when someone is staring at them.

Well, it wasn't too long before I started to feel the vibrations. I followed them down to the tournament. I walked over to the edge of the arena and waited until the current fight was over. I believe it was against The Shiek (the champion back then) and Tiger Bear. As soon as the fight between them was over (with The Shiek as the victor) I entered the arena.

"Hear me out!" I shouted before anyone could object. "Let me fight this one round. If I lose you will never see me again. But if I win… you must let me join the tournament."

"I'll make sure to go easy on you, little kid," The Shiek's deep voice ground out. He was large and every inch of him was covered with muscles.

"There's no need for that," I answered and turned to face him. Before he could register what was happening I threw three large boulders at him. He dodged the first two, but the third boulder scraped his side. Yes, I usually do fight defensive, but I knew he wouldn't attack first. Anyways, I don't want to gloat, but I beat The Shiek in less than two minutes. The fight was really easy. By the time he realized how skilled I was it was too late.

I had to force myself into several more fights before they would finally enter me into the tournament. I won against every opponent I faced and it wasn't long before I was crowned the champion. I did end up sneaking back into my room and nobody had even noticed I was gone. I think it was the sneaking out occasionally to participate in the earthbending tournament that kept me from going insane. It was because of that tournament that I was qualified to teach Twinkle Toes earthbending. And it was through that tournament that I became free.


End file.
